We’ve visited Vitalia’s Italian on the waterfront many times over the years, and honestly, we want to love this place… we really do. The location overlooking the Cairns marina is gorgeous, the atmosphere is lovely, and the food has always tasted great. However, the portions do tend to be on the smaller side, so that’s something to keep in mind if you’re particularly hungry. Unfortunately, the service continues to be the part of the experience that lets it down. Service here has usually been a bit hit and miss, or occasionally slow, which we’ve tended to overlook given the quality of the food. However, during our most recent lunch visit it felt noticeably off. The waiter came across as disinterested and unfriendly, and at times his manner felt quite abrupt. Our adult son asked whether he could have the bolognese sauce served with gnocchi instead of the pasta and was happy to pay extra, but was firmly told no because it was only available on the kids menu and was a small serving. It wasn’t so much the answer, but the way in which it was delivered. A little warmth or friendliness would have gone a long way, as it was simply a genuine question from an easygoing customer. A similar thing happened when my husband tried to order a bottle of red wine for the table. Twice he politely asked, “May I order a bottle of wine?” and both times the waiter responded “yeah,” but then immediately walked away with the menus and never returned to take the order, despite further attempts to get his attention. In the end, we simply stayed with table water. We’ve kept coming back over the years because the food and views really are beautiful, and we’ve even brought visiting friends and family here. But with so many wonderful Italian restaurants to choose from in Cairns, we sadly don’t think we’ll be returning again soon. We genuinely hope the service side of things improves, because this restaurant has so much potential to be every bit as special as its setting.

We walked up at 6:30pm and we were seated straight away. We ordered a pizza - Bella Ciao and a paccheri guanciale / funghi pasta. The food came out promptly and it was sensational. The food was a 10 out of 10! Delicious 😋

I definitely do not recommend this restaurant, for the pizza (Godfather) we ordered was a joke not worth paying the price they asked ($34 - 12 inches ) I had Italian pizza or pasta from many Italian restaurant but this is nothing compared to any of those places I had yummy. I saw 3 customers order from the other table I bet they were all Italian and I saw the pasta was watery I bet it won’t be as good as some there else I had. The place had a good atmosphere next to the bay, but the service is a big question not friendly staff also be careful with your Order. Take a closer look when the bills come. If you order a small size they charge you the higher price big size, i caught her on that lo so I asked her to change it. I paid for what I ordered not for what they put in my bills.

Really enjoyable place with excellent food and service. We were seated just in a minute during Saturday evening (sounds like impossible). Ordered buffalo pizza, salad with rocket, glasses of wine and tiramisu to the ends! Really delicious food and place which must be visited!

We had a pleasant time celebrating our anniversary dinner at Vitalia! It was pretty packed for a Thursday night so we’re fortunate to have reservations. Our waitress, Camila made our experience enjoyable! She advised us on which cocktail is better and which pasta has more flavour to it. Very knowledgeable with the menu. Very cheerful and friendly! We had the Bruscofocaccia, which was so fresh and had mix of sour from the tomatoes and the crispiness of the ciabatta. We also had the Eggplant parmi and Pappardele (Camila advised us on getting the pappardele). Both of them are beautiful! The eggplant was cooked to perfection, so soft and tender and we can definitely taste the lamb ragú, very generous with the lamb ragú too! Wished we had space for desert but I’m sure they taste just as amazing!